Holidays on this day
- Old New Year
- Day of Pipeline Troops of the Russian Armed Forces
- Military Band Service Day of the Russian Armed Forces
- Christmastide day 9
- Memorial Day of St. Basil the Great
- Dress Up Pet Day
- Snow White Bird Day
- Traditional Healer's Day
- Spicy Pastrami Sandwich Day
- Clean Your House Day
- Donkey Festival
Significant events in history
1506 The sculpture “Laocoon and his sons” was found in Rome.
1700 Peter I ordered the nobles to wear European costumes.
1814 In St. Petersburg, the Imperial Public Library opened to the public.
1929 Birthday of the Moscow region.
Persons
On January 14, 1827, Russian geographer, statistician, head of the Russian Geographical Society, Pyotr Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, was born.
On January 14, 1911, the Soviet novelist Anatoly Rybakov was born.
On January 14, 1948, Soviet hockey player, forward, and Olympic champion Valery Kharlamov was born.
On January 14, 1963, Soviet and Russian theater and film actress, Honored Artist of Russia Anna Samokhina was born.
Folk calendar
Vasiliev's day
Basil's Day was celebrated in honor of Basil the Great, also known as Basil of Caesarea. In Rus', the saint received the dissonant nickname – Vasily Svinyatnik. However, nothing bad was meant by this name. The fact is that among the people Vasily was considered the patron saint of pigs, and for the holiday they always prepared pork dishes – roasted pig, boiled ham and others. On this day, the peasants even went to caroling with special sayings.
They said that “Vasily divides Christmastide in half”: from January 7 to 13, “holy evenings” were celebrated, and from 14 to 19, “terrible evenings.” On this day, girls especially zealously wondered about marriage.
This day was considered very important from the point of view of its influence on the entire next year, so they tried to spend it as fun and satisfying as possible.
Also, according to signs, on this day it was necessary to have a cash reserve in the house; they didn’t lend money, so as not to “give away” their wealth. Another ritual – sowing grains – was supposed to promote productivity; the children scattered the grains on the floor, and the eldest woman in the house collected them and stored them until sowing.
The harvest was also judged by signs. Snow or severe frost on this day promised a fertile year. A clear starry sky promised a harvest of peas and berries, and a blizzard promised a good harvest of nuts.
Name day on this day
Alexander, Bogdan, Vasily, Vyacheslav, Gregory, Ivan, Mikhail, Nikolai, Peter, Platon, Trofim, Fedot.
Source: Calend.ru.
